When the right people are in the room, progress happens.

Every industry has its defining conversations, the ones that push boundaries, challenge assumptions, and reset the course for what comes next. For affordable housing, that conversation happened recently at RealPage’s 2025 Affordable Leadership Summit.

I had the opportunity to join leaders from across the country gathered under one roof to discuss the future of housing affordability, operational innovation, and the responsible use of technology. The event was led by RealPage’s executive team, including Dana Jones, Scott Nelson, Barry Weaver, and Scott Holcomb, whose commitment to both innovation and accessibility shaped the dialogue throughout.

Why These Conversations Matter

I have been in this field for more than twenty years, and one thing has never changed: affordable housing is about more than buildings and budgets. It is about people, systems, and the operational discipline that allows both to coexist sustainably. But lately, the pace of change in our industry has accelerated. New regulations, data standards, and technologies are redefining what it means to manage affordable housing responsibly.

Conferences often serve as checkpoints, moments to pause and align around the next horizon. This one felt different. It was less a collection of presentations and more a working session among leaders who understood that the stakes are real. Families, seniors, and communities are depending on our collective ability to adapt.

The Technology Shift

What stood out most from RealPage’s Summit was the intentional focus on technology’s role in removing barriers to housing. It was not a conversation about tools for their own sake. It was about outcomes.

RealPage’s leadership emphasized how data, when used responsibly, can help operators make faster, more informed decisions. Predictive analytics can identify risk patterns in compliance or delinquency before they become crises. Workflow automation can relieve site teams of repetitive administrative work so they can focus on residents. Artificial intelligence, used ethically, can help bridge the growing gap between limited staff capacity and rising regulatory demand.

For those of us who have lived through the evolution of property management, from paper binders to cloud platforms, the change is remarkable. But the shift we are seeing now is deeper. We are moving from reactive management to proactive systems, from data collection to data interpretation, from process to purpose.

Where Technology Meets Purpose

Technology alone is not the answer. In fact, many organizations have struggled because they adopted software without first defining the problems they wanted to solve. What RealPage highlighted at the Summit is that technology must align with purpose.

Reducing barriers to housing is not just a social goal. It is an operational one. When systems become simpler, when data becomes clearer, and when AI can help anticipate needs, residents benefit. So do teams. The friction that used to consume hours of staff time becomes an opportunity for human connection and higher service.

One example that stood out was how RealPage is using AI responsibly to assist with compliance processes, allowing staff to focus on review and judgment rather than endless data entry. It is not about replacing people. It is about giving people more capacity to do what humans do best: think, empathize, and solve problems creatively.

Collaboration Over Competition

The most encouraging part of the Summit was seeing how collaboration across companies, agencies, and roles is beginning to replace the old siloed mindset. Affordable housing has long been fragmented, with developers, owners, managers, and regulators each focused on their own part of the puzzle. But the complexity of today’s environment demands collective innovation.

The discussions in that room reflected a shared understanding: no single organization will solve affordability alone. It takes shared systems, shared data, and shared intent. Leaders from public housing authorities, nonprofit developers, and private management firms all engaged with the same urgency to modernize without losing mission.

The work ahead is big. The regulatory environment is not getting easier, and the pressures on affordability are not slowing down. But collaboration like this gives the mission momentum. It reminds us that innovation is not a departure from purpose. It is the means to sustain it.

A Personal Reflection

As someone who has spent much of my career operating within the complexities of tax credit, HUD, and RD housing, I left the Summit with a sense of alignment. For years, I have believed that affordable housing operations need both heart and high performance. We need mission and measurement. Compassion and consistency.

The conversations at RealPage reinforced that these goals are no longer in conflict. With the right systems and partnerships, technology can be the bridge between operational excellence and human impact.

What makes me most hopeful is seeing purpose-driven leaders step into these conversations. People who understand that efficiency and empathy are not opposites. They are accelerants of each other. When technology handles the repetitive, humans have more time to lead with care.

Executive Reflection

When the right people are in the room, progress happens. The RealPage Affordable Leadership Summit was proof that the future of our industry will be shaped by collaboration, not competition.

The challenge ahead is clear: to use innovation and AI responsibly, to keep residents at the center of every design, and to ensure that technology amplifies rather than replaces the human touch that defines great property management.

At Weishaar Strategic Partners, we help organizations navigate this intersection, aligning systems, people, and purpose so affordable housing operations can be both high-performing and deeply human.

The road ahead will not be simple. But after hearing from leaders across the industry, I am more convinced than ever that we are heading in the right direction. The tools are evolving. The conversations are deepening. The mission is holding steady.

When the right people are in the room, the future of affordable housing gets a little clearer and a lot more possible.